My briefcase was stolen with my old Leatherman Wave in it, which at the time was the best thing on the market as far as MultiTools go in my book.
I’ve been out of the loop on knives and wondered if anyone knew if there is anything that is considered the new ‘best in class’. I went to the Leatherman site and thought the new Charge TI looked kinda neat, but I also saw that there are a bunch of new players out there from other manufacturers too.
My primary concern is that it can act as a one hand open-able folder. This rules out the standard Leatherman line as the blades are inside and not as easy to get to. I (of course) want to have a bunch of other stuff available (pliers, screwdrivers(s), etc.). I’m not too worried about portability/pocketability as it’ll reside in my briefcase. Mult-Functionality is my main driver.
The best one I have owned was a Leatherman Wave. Lockable blades, one handed opening and closing. Diamond file that could sharpen most other knives around in a pinch. Damn, I miss it. Got stolen in Northern Ontario, and I have not been able to replace it yet.
The Kanagoo_in_Black gave me a Leatherman Wave for Christmas last year. I love it, and it’s been redesigned so the knives are outside and thus one-handable.
I have a SwissTech MultiTool that folds up to a nice little neat rectangle that self-clips to a keyring, but it has no cutting edge components, so I also have a SwissTech Utili-key. Both of these are very finely-engineered little gadgets - of course neither of them would be much use for field-dressing a deer or digging a foxhole, but for the kind of purposes I carry them, they are great, certainly superior in build quality to all of the other similar multi-tools I’ve seen.
The Wave was the first Leatherman with outside knives and along with the more ergonomic handle design was why I bought it originally. Since then they’ve updated the Wave and included a socket driver and they’ve come out with the Charge TI that looks like a wave with a more durable knife blade and other upgrades.
I’m really leaning towards the Charge TI as it looks like it includes all the thinks I valued about the Wave, but I’m open to things I’ve not considered.
Again the main things I’m looking for are:
One hand opening knife functionality
Ergonomics so it won’t hurt your hand to use it under stress like the original Leatherman with its hard edges
Multi functionality - screwdrivers, pliers, serrated knife, saw, etc.
I gave my brother a Swiss Army SwissTool for Christmas a couple of years ago. I liked it better than the Leatherman, because the handle seemed more comfortable. I carry a very small Swiss Army knife (the Signature II) on my keychain. It has a small blade, scissors, nail file with screwdriver tip, LED light and even a small ballpoint pen. I didn’t want a bigger knife in my pocket, so this one is perfect for me.
Been looking around and the Victorinox SwissTool seems to be the best rated as far as quality goes, but it doesn’t have One-Hand-Opening flexibility. There is a Gerber Multi-Plier 800 Legend that looked promising, but the reviews on Amazon put me off it so I seem to be back at the Leatherman Charge TI again.
